In Humanitarian AI Today’s first interview recorded in Spanish, David Alejamdro Schoeller-Diaz guest hosts a special interview with Catalina Rebollo, a journalist and regular contributor to Wired magazine in Spanish covering technology and artificial intelligence. Catalina specializes in in-depth reporting on news and complex issues with a particular focus on human rights, inequity and disinformation. She recently wrote on humanitarian technology under siege in Gaza, highlighting the impact of technology blockades and technology warfare on crippling humanitarian operations, making it harder for populations to survive and for aid agencies to fulfill their mandates.
Building on the subject of technology in conflict-zones, David and Catalina discuss how digital tools and AI are becoming indispensable for humanitarian aid while at the same time they are being weaponized by non-humanitarian actors to facilitate the surveillance and persecution of civilians, testing humanitarian principles in new ways that we are only beginning to understand.
Catalina highlights an emerging "two-tiered system" within the humanitarian sector, characterized by a stark disparity in technological capacity. While large, well-funded organizations possess the resources to conduct rigorous research into uses of AI and deploy more sophisticated and secure tools, smaller grassroots NGOs are frequently left behind. This digital divide often forces smaller actors to rely on insecure platforms and tools, leaving their operations and the communities they serve vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. Power imbalance like these also severely limit the negotiating leverage of smaller NGOs not only with global technology corporations but also with key stakeholders on the ground during a crisis.
The conversation concludes with a call for international political agreements to establish "red lines" that protect humanitarian data, much like the physical Red Cross flag protects aid workers under the Geneva Conventions. Looking forward, the guests explore the potential for defensive uses AI designed specifically to do things like safeguard human rights and provide medical guidance in conflict zones where traditional support has been severed. Finally, they call upon the academic and technology communities to deepen their engagement with the humanitarian sector, helping organizations of all sizes navigate the rapid evolution of AI and unlock its potential as a force for global good.
Interview notes: https://humanitarianaitoday.medium.com/humanitarian-technology-under-siege-a-conversation-with-catalina-rebollo-from-wired-en-espa%C3%B1ol-c7f143c98c97
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In Humanitarian AI Today’s first interview recorded in Spanish, David Alejamdro Schoeller-Diaz guest hosts a special interview with Catalina Rebollo, a journalist and regular contributor to Wired magazine in Spanish covering technology and artificial intelligence. Catalina specializes in in-depth reporting on news and complex issues with a particular focus on human rights, inequity and disinformation. She recently wrote on humanitarian technology under siege in Gaza, highlighting the impact of technology blockades and technology warfare on crippling humanitarian operations, making it harder for populations to survive and for aid agencies to fulfill their mandates.
Building on the subject of technology in conflict-zones, David and Catalina discuss how digital tools and AI are becoming indispensable for humanitarian aid while at the same time they are being weaponized by non-humanitarian actors to facilitate the surveillance and persecution of civilians, testing humanitarian principles in new ways that we are only beginning to understand.
Catalina highlights an emerging "two-tiered system" within the humanitarian sector, characterized by a stark disparity in technological capacity. While large, well-funded organizations possess the resources to conduct rigorous research into uses of AI and deploy more sophisticated and secure tools, smaller grassroots NGOs are frequently left behind. This digital divide often forces smaller actors to rely on insecure platforms and tools, leaving their operations and the communities they serve vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. Power imbalance like these also severely limit the negotiating leverage of smaller NGOs not only with global technology corporations but also with key stakeholders on the ground during a crisis.
The conversation concludes with a call for international political agreements to establish "red lines" that protect humanitarian data, much like the physical Red Cross flag protects aid workers under the Geneva Conventions. Looking forward, the guests explore the potential for defensive uses AI designed specifically to do things like safeguard human rights and provide medical guidance in conflict zones where traditional support has been severed. Finally, they call upon the academic and technology communities to deepen their engagement with the humanitarian sector, helping organizations of all sizes navigate the rapid evolution of AI and unlock its potential as a force for global good.
Interview notes: https://humanitarianaitoday.medium.com/humanitarian-technology-under-siege-a-conversation-with-catalina-rebollo-from-wired-en-espa%C3%B1ol-c7f143c98c97
Perry Hewitt from Data.org on Accelerating What's Possible in Social Impact
Humanitarian AI Today
6 minutes 27 seconds
3 months ago
Perry Hewitt from Data.org on Accelerating What's Possible in Social Impact
Voices is a new mini-series from Humanitarian AI Today. In daily five-minute flashpods we pass the mic to innovators, researchers and practitioners on the humanitarian front lines, delivering real-time news on how they are building, testing and collaborating on uses of artificial intelligence.
On this Voices flashpod, Perry Hewitt, Chief Strategy Officer at Data.org joins Humanitarian AI Today podcast host Brent Phillips to discuss Data.org’s role in supporting the social impact community’s transition into digital and its transition now into data and AI, and Data.org’s new report ‘Accelerate What’s Possible’ - a roadmap for how data and AI can be used innovatively and intentionally to drive social impact. They also touch on Data.org’s Activate AI: Economic Opportunity Challenge, their partnership with Zoom and the next Accelerate conference taking place in June 2026 in Bogotá, Colombia on the Javeriana University campus.
Notes: https://humanitarianaitoday.substack.com/p/perry-hewitt-from-dataorg-on-accelerating
Humanitarian AI Today
In Humanitarian AI Today’s first interview recorded in Spanish, David Alejamdro Schoeller-Diaz guest hosts a special interview with Catalina Rebollo, a journalist and regular contributor to Wired magazine in Spanish covering technology and artificial intelligence. Catalina specializes in in-depth reporting on news and complex issues with a particular focus on human rights, inequity and disinformation. She recently wrote on humanitarian technology under siege in Gaza, highlighting the impact of technology blockades and technology warfare on crippling humanitarian operations, making it harder for populations to survive and for aid agencies to fulfill their mandates.
Building on the subject of technology in conflict-zones, David and Catalina discuss how digital tools and AI are becoming indispensable for humanitarian aid while at the same time they are being weaponized by non-humanitarian actors to facilitate the surveillance and persecution of civilians, testing humanitarian principles in new ways that we are only beginning to understand.
Catalina highlights an emerging "two-tiered system" within the humanitarian sector, characterized by a stark disparity in technological capacity. While large, well-funded organizations possess the resources to conduct rigorous research into uses of AI and deploy more sophisticated and secure tools, smaller grassroots NGOs are frequently left behind. This digital divide often forces smaller actors to rely on insecure platforms and tools, leaving their operations and the communities they serve vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. Power imbalance like these also severely limit the negotiating leverage of smaller NGOs not only with global technology corporations but also with key stakeholders on the ground during a crisis.
The conversation concludes with a call for international political agreements to establish "red lines" that protect humanitarian data, much like the physical Red Cross flag protects aid workers under the Geneva Conventions. Looking forward, the guests explore the potential for defensive uses AI designed specifically to do things like safeguard human rights and provide medical guidance in conflict zones where traditional support has been severed. Finally, they call upon the academic and technology communities to deepen their engagement with the humanitarian sector, helping organizations of all sizes navigate the rapid evolution of AI and unlock its potential as a force for global good.
Interview notes: https://humanitarianaitoday.medium.com/humanitarian-technology-under-siege-a-conversation-with-catalina-rebollo-from-wired-en-espa%C3%B1ol-c7f143c98c97
